February 23, 2013 – The Douglas category is more
than full, with a confirmed bevy of venerable
DC-3s and C-47s locked in at 17 aircraft.

Holding on to Slot Number 1 is “Spooky,” a C-47
gunship, operated by the American Flight Museum
of Topeka, Kansas, and one of the Gathering of
Warbirds and Legends’ key organizers.

“The American Flight Museum is very excited to
host this event,” said Rob Rice, president of
the American Flight Museum. “Being part of this
event is so important--we can properly salute
the men and women who served in WWII and
protected the freedom that we enjoy today.

“As the cost of fuel and parts keeps increasing,
it is harder to get a mass gathering of these
historic aircraft together. To see them all in a
formation is going to be a rare and awesome
sight to see. This warbird gathering has turned
truly amazing in just the last thirty days as
these aircraft have filed in electronically one
by one.

“Of course, my favorite is the C-47,” continued
Rice, “which we operate but it will be an
amazing experience to host and fly with all of
these other rare and unique vintage warbirds.
Topeka is an ideal location, both
geographically, in terms of runway and ramp, and
community support. Our entire network team is
working hard to host this event here. As the
President of the American Flight Museum, I can
vouch that we are honored to hold “Gooney Bird”
Slot Number 1 and park our bird on that ramp
with all of our other close friends from the
warbird community. We look forward to showing
you all a great time,” commented President Rice
earlier this week.

In a media conference call earlier this week,
American Flight Museum Vice President and event
organizer Brooks Pettit also had this report:
“As of this week, we are proud to report that
the Grumman series slots are now full, as well
as those for the Lockheed series. This is the
first time that we know of that all of these
unique and rare aircraft single, authentic
copies from these individual manufacturers will
be on the same ramp at the same time. You can
see the aircraft listings and status on the
front page of the gathering website. If you want
to see a lot of world War II aircraft flying
together every day, you will not want to miss
this,” advised Vice President Pettit.

The Douglas aircraft siblings will travel to Topeka from
all over America and include two newly restored historic
original Pan Am aircraft, numerous authentic D-Day
aircraft, and a host of other workhorses from the fleet
that have served well for more than seventy years of
duty.

In
addition to the Douglas DC-3 and C-47 fleet, the
convention is proud to announce that the Douglas A-26
medium-range bomber will be on site, and the owners have
agreed to offered rides to the general public. This is a
unique opportunity to experience flight in this bomber
in person. Four riders can be carried in the actual bomb
bay area, as well as one rider with the crew in the
cockpit.

The planned August gathering is fortunate to be
co-located on the field with yet another World War II
aircraft museum. The Combat Air Museum of Topeka, Kansas
is the largest such museum in the Midwest and features
more than 25 authentic military aircraft, as well as
thousands of museum artifacts and displays original to
the period. The Combat Air Museum will be open to the
public during the gathering as well.

The team of organizers has launched both a web site and
a Facebook page that give all of the details of this
incredible event. Warbird owners interested in
participating in the gathering (centrally located in the
heartland of America, in Topeka, Kansas, on August 1-4,
2013), can apply for positions, or “slots,” to be
awarded based on their aircraft and crew credentials.

A special effort has been taken to cater to the
media specialists and assist them in gaining access
to the planes, the crews, and in-flight positions to
capture every thrilling moment. For more
information, see
www.WarbirdsandLegends.org, as well as The
Gathering of Warbirds and Legends page on Facebook.